The fourth season of the American Western television series ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...

'' premiered on NBC on September 23, 1962, with the final episode airing May 26, 1963. The series was developed and produced by David Dortort, and season four starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and

Michael Landon Michael Landon (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in ''Bonanza'' (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in ''Little House on the Pr ...

. The season consisted of 34 episodes of a series total 431 hour-long episodes, the entirety of which was produced in color. Season four was aired on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. It ranked #4 in the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, the highest rated Western for the 1962–1963 season.

Synopsis

''Bonanza'' is set around the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada and chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, consisting of Ben Cartwright and his three sons (each by a different wife),

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

, Eric ( "Hoss"), and Joseph ("Little Joe"). A regular character is their ranch cook, Hop Sing.

Cast and characters

Main cast

* Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright * Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright * Dan Blocker as Eric "Hoss" Cartwright *

as Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright

Recurring

* Victor Sen Yung as Hop Sing * Ray Teal as Sheriff Roy Coffee *

Bing Russell Neil Oliver "Bing" Russell (May 5, 1926 – April 8, 2003) was an American actor and Class A minor-league baseball club owner. He was the father of Hollywood actor Kurt Russell and grandfather of ex–major league baseball player Matt Franco ...

as Deputy Clem Foster

Guest cast

Production

Casting

Bing Russell was added to the series as recurring character Deputy Clem Foster beginning with episode 18, "Half a Rouge".

Filming

On location filming for season four took place at

Incline Village Incline Village is a census-designated place (CDP) on the north shore of Lake Tahoe in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 8,777 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Reno−Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Until the 20 ...

for episode 1, "The First Born"; episode 2, "The Quest", and episode 7, "The War Comes to Washoe". Additional locations were Griffith Park for episode 29, "Five into the Wind", and Bronson Canyon for episode 32, "Rich Man, Poor Man"

Episodes

Release

Season four aired on Sundays from 9:00pm10:00pm on NBC.

Reception

Season four ranked #4 in the

, the highest rated Western for the 1962–1963 season.

Awards and nominations

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

*
''Bonanza'' season 4
at '' TV Guide'' * {{Bonanza Bonanza seasons 1962 American television seasons 1963 American television seasons